Is this the Angels' best pitching staff ever?

It's hard to compare different players from different eras. But hey, the Angels were off Monday, so let's while away the hours pontificating and debating.

Believe it or not, the Angels had a pretty good pitching staff last year, led by Jered Weaver, who went 18-8 with a 2.41 earned-run average, finishing second in the Cy Young voting. The pitchers had a collective ERA of 3.57, the lowest in the American League and only the second time since 1976 the Angels had an ERA under 3.60.

This year the Angels raised the bar by signing C.J. Wilson, one of the premier starters in the majors, and adding three terrific relievers – Ernesto Frieri, LaTroy Hawkins and Jason Isringhausen. Throw in starter Garrett Richards, who's 23 and is pitching like he wants to stay with the big club this time around, and you have a staff that's even better than last year's.

Through 73 games the Angels have a staff ERA of 3.42. Since the franchise was born in 1961, the team's pitchers have recorded that low an ERA only six other times. It's happened only once since 1973, when the designated-hitter rule was implemented in the AL and runs started to become more plentiful. The Angels' lowest ERA in the DH era was 1989, when Chuck Finley and Bert Blyleven helped the team put up an ERA of 3.28.

That year the Angels won 91 games but finished only third in the division; this was the Stone Age, remember, before the wild card.

This year there are two wild-card spots, which means the Angels, along with a lot of other teams, will be scrambling for the playoffs in the second half of the season, making pitching even more important for those clubs.

Angels pitchers might have to keep carrying the team on certain nights. Despite strong performances so far by Mike Trout, Mark Trumbo and Albert Pujols, the Angels' offense has been weak. Entering Tuesday night's game at Baltimore, the team ranked 11th in the AL and 21st in MLB in runs scored with 301. And in the race for the AL West Division title, they're only 5.0 games behind Texas, which leads the majors with 386 runs scored. As of Monday the Angels were only a half-game behind Tampa Bay for the second wild-card spot, if we may be so bold as to start thinking about that possibility before even half the games have been played.

Considering what's at stake, is this the best pitching staff the Angels have ever assembled? Click on the photo to get the lowdown on some of the 2012 team's major contributors, as well as learn more about the best years for pitching in team history.